David Rhodes, CEO, and JAN-PRO president Peter dePenaloza are ready
to lead their company to success.

By Scott Eldredge
Special to NETWORK

JAN-PRO of the Greater Bay Area started 2006-2007 by relocating its regional headquarters from Oakland to Pleasanton, a move designed to better serve its franchise holders and their customers, many of whom are in the Tri-Valley area.

JAN-PRO, headed by partners Peter dePenaloza and David Rhodes, has also acquired JAN-PRO of Southern California, which encompasses Los Angeles and Orange counties, and will administer those accounts out of its new 4,100 square-foot office at 3875 Hopyard Road. A staff of about 25 serves more than 300 independent JAN-PRO franchise holders in the two regions.

Hacienda has a number of attributes that make it ideally suited to JAN-PRO's needs. Pleasanton is centrally located in the area served by the Northern California region, providing easy access for the JAN-PRO businesses supported by the corporate office, while at the same time being more conveniently located to the legal and accounting services on which JAN-PRO relies. In Hacienda, dePenaloza and Rhodes found the first-floor office they wanted in nice surroundings with ample parking for the visiting owners of JAN-Pro franchises.

JAN-PRO cleaning customers are solicited and signed up at the regional level, and the services are provided by individual franchise holders. The regional office supports the franchises by providing customers and also services such as accounting, marketing, customer support, and training. A degree of central oversight means JAN-PRO can offer guarantees on the services provided by franchise holders.

“JAN-PRO brings a level of professionalism to what is largely a ‘mom and pop’ industry containing thousands of independent entrepreneurs and many definitions of what clean is,” says dePenaloza. “The people who clean for us are largely mom and pops as well, but in us they’ve got a partner helping them manage the business. We inspect our facilities on a regular basis. We are very proactive. We know what's going on. We’re there to help them and support our customers.”

Being suitable for small business owners doesn’t mean JAN-PRO is limited in its services. JAN-PRO teams clean all types of commercial spaces, including single and multi-tenant office buildings, schools, retail stores, health clubs, industrial facilities, and specialized spaces such as biotech clean rooms, for which crews must be trained, and medical facilities such as kidney dialysis centers, for which crews must be trained and certified.

“We’re the fastest growing of all the JAN-PRO regions in the country. We’ve had a great deal of success, and we’re continuing to grow and add other services. For example, we just added tile restoration. Business is good,” dePenaloza concludes. “We think there is significant room for growth in both southern and northern California.”